I wanted to wait a little while before posting, because I shouldn't post while angry. But I'm super upset over Xander leaving the red sox. I'm not upset that the red sox over the contract itself. I doubt that the red sox will ever give an eleven-year contract. What I'm pissed about has nothing to do with numbers at all; what I'm pissed about is that there are two sides to baseball. You have the analytical, numbers side of the game where everything has a value. You also have the emotional, romantic side of the baseball. We watch these players every day, they become part of the everyday narrative. It would be overstating it to call them like family, but you do become emotionally attached to certain players. You start to love the things that they do. They become someone you can rely on, someone who'll be there day in and day out. Xander meant a lot to this fanbase, to the city and to the team itself. He was everything you could ask of in a player. Maybe analytically there are better options out there, but for the emotional side he was the best choice. I'm glad for Xander that he got what he wanted, but this one tears me apart because it never should have gotten to this point to begin with. Bloom, Henry et al never should have tried to outplay Xander, to risk it to see if they could get him at a lower value at the beginning of spring training. The front office bet on themselves, that Xander would regress, that no one would really want him, that they could low ball him and then get him even cheaper, and that if it came down to it, they could pay him just a little bit more. That strategy bit the red sox in the ass big time. For the second time in the history of the John Henry era, maybe the third time if you count John Lester, they bet against a home-grown star for some unknown reason and at the end of the day were left out in the cold. Maybe they couldn't match San Diego's offer, but I do blame the front office for allowing Xander to become a free agent at all. I'm getting a little sick of the same thing happening over and over again.